4th annual ALL ABOUT DOWNTOWN Jersey City Street Fair Kicks Off Sept 20th- Let the Fun Begin 

 JC FESTIVAL SEPT 20The Historic Downtown Special Improvement District (HDSID) will turn Newark Avenue & Grove Street Plaza into a lively festival of all that’s great about Historic Downtown Jersey City when ALL ABOUT DOWNTOWN brings local retailers, restaurateurs, artists and entrepreneurs out into the streets for a day of food, food and pizzazz.

.On Sat, Sept. 20, from 11 am to 6 pm, Grove Street Plaza & Newark Avenue will be bustling with 125 local vendors; over 15 food and fashion trucks; live music performances; fun activities for kids, cool trinkets from local retailers, and art from area artists.  It’s a little bit of everything that makes Historic Downtown Jersey City a very exciting place to be these days. The event is hosted by HDSID led by executive director Rachel Sieg.

“Basically the downtown businesses, artists, vendors, and food trucks all come out to enjoy Downtown Jersey City,” Sieg says. “It’s our biggest event of the year. For one day, between 20-30,000 people come to Jersey City; people from Brooklyn, Newark, New York City, Hoboken. We’re trying to get people to see that Jersey City is a great place to hang out, have dinner, go to art shows, and buy clothes. There’s so much to do down here. Its 20 minutes on the PATH train from New York, which makes it is easy to get here.”

The HDSID is a public/private partnership that brings together property and business owners to ensure they have an impact on Historic Downtown Jersey City neighborhoods and their development. HDSID works with local businesses, property owners and neighborhood associations, and City government, to promote Downtown Jersey City and improve the quality of life.

This year’s participants in All About Downtown include Golden Grille, Hard Grove, L.I.T.M., Downtown Hardware, Capital One, TEDxJerseyCity, The BIG Straw, BCB Bank, Dominos, Union Republic, Roman Nose, Barcade, My Gym Hoboken, Morlees, Indiegrove, PNC Bank. Helen’s Pizzeria, CoolHaus, IndrediBalls, The Style Cruiser, Uber, Park and Sixth Comfort Food, Orale Mexican Kitchen, Left Bank Burger Bar, Pole Position Raceway, Zipcar, Dark Side of the MOO, Choc O Pain, BBQ @ Legal Beans, Goldman Sachs, Gymboree, WORD Bookstore and Two Boots Pizza.

Another Man’s Treasure vintage clothes; organic home-made ice cream from Milk Sugar Love; and unique jewelry and collectibles by Vera Vixenness of Union City will also be at the fair. This is the 3rd year Vixenness will be selling her special jewelry designs and vintage clothes, and she fondly remembers her first year at the festival and how it became the launching pad she needed to start her own business.

“All About Downtown was the perfect place for me to test my product,” Vixenness says, “and it was very profitable. That first festival was successful for me; I got a solid brand.”

A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, Vixenness repurposes jewelry and vintage clothes she finds at estate sales and thrift shops.

“I specialize in bohemian aesthetic,” Vixenness says. “At All About Downtown I’ll be selling vintage clothes, collectibles and repurposed jewelry like my rock and roll rosaries, and ‘native’ jewelry made from bones and stones. I’m going to have $5 and $10 racks of vintage clothes and $5 bins of cuffs and stuff.”

Fair-goers can find Vixenness’ booth on Newark Ave, close to Grove Street. All About Downtown is great for entrepreneurs like Vixenness who “flies solo” and calls herself a “mobile boutique” because her business can pop up anywhere. At the fair, she also gets to reunite with friends.

“All About Downtown is a blast,” Vixenness says. “I love Jersey City and I get to see friends all day. It’s a great time.”

If you go:

Sat, Sept 20, 11 am to 6 pm

All About Downtown Jersey City Street Fair

Grove Street Plaza & Newark Avenue

Jersey City

For more info, www.jcdowntown.org